Therapy
by SmallRozfan
Summary: This is just a long one-shot that came to me when I got stuck in an uncomfortable situation. I guess this fic can be summarized in a handful of words: Clark, Lois, closet, claustrophobia. It's set somewhere towards the early part of season 9, maybe somewhere around the time of Crossfire to Pandora in the early stages of Lois and Clark's dating, though nothing concrete.


**Therapy**

Author: Beth aka SmallRozfan

Rating: PG13

Couple: CLois

Category: Humor, Romance, suspense

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, storylines, etc having to do with Smallville, Superman, etc. I just like playing with them for fun not profit. (But oh the things I would do if Clark Kent were mine…sigh.)

Summary: This is just a one-shot (a long one) that came to me when I got stuck in an uncomfortable situation. I have claustrophobic tendencies that I can usually handle. So I guess this fic can be summarized in a handful of words: Clark, Lois, closet, claustrophobia. It's set somewhere towards the early part of season 9, maybe somewhere around the time of Crossfire to Pandora in the early stages of Lois and Clark's dating, though nothing concrete. I hope you enjoy it! Let me know. I thrive on feedback and have ideas for several new Smallville fics.

(Posted in multiple parts due to space.)

~ CK & LL ~

**Claus-tro-pho-bi-a** [klaw-struh-**foh**-bee-uh] _noun_

An abnormal fear of being closed in or of being in a confined space. (According to )

~ CK & LL ~

"Lois, when you said you wanted me to take you out tonight, this wasn't exactly the first thing that came to mind," Clark said in a loud whisper.

His coworker, friend, and now hopefully-to-be-girlfriend turned from where she had been standing in the middle of the large office and grinned at him, literally rubbing her hands together in glee. "Really? How about the second thing? I thought you knew me," she teased.

When he just rolled his eyes and pushed off from where he had been leaning against the closed door and shoved his hands in his pockets, she sighed and walked over to him. Resting her hands on his chest, she leaned up a little to look into his eyes and flash a reassuring smile. Clark knew he was in trouble. "Look, it wasn't originally part of my plan either when we made plans three days ago, but there's no need to panic. We'll just have a quick look around and see what we can find and then we'll go back to the farm and stuff our faces with pizza while we veg out in front of the boob-tube. Ok?"

As Lois turned away, her dark hair swinging back over her shoulder, Clark muttered, "Unless we end up getting arrested on B & E charges and spend the night in jail."

Growling softly in frustration, Lois moved over to the desk and turned on the computer, sitting in the large leather chair. "Smallville, will you relax? We are _not_ getting arrested. We're not even going to get caught. However, if you are so worried, you can wait out in the car for me if you want."

Her last statement had come out in a nonchalant tone, but Clark wasn't fooled for a second. She had issued a challenge and they both knew he wouldn't just abandon her here by herself. He sighed and moved further into the office. Glancing around, he ignored her suggestion and said, "Tell me why we're here again."

Clearing her throat slightly, Lois shifted as she waited for the computer to finish booting up. "I told you. I'm following up on a lead."

Clark narrowed his eyes at her. "Yeah, and that's all the detail you gave me. Come on, Lois, spill it."

It was Lois' turn to roll her eyes but she was looking down at the moment so it was lost on Clark. Sometimes he could be so…so…so _Clark_. "You know my poker buddy, Mike, who's on the force with the third precinct?" Clark thought about it and then nodded, probably trying to figure out which one was Mike. "Well, we had poker at his house last night and his younger brother, Tony, pulled me aside. He told me that his friend is an intern for Congressman Whittaker, and _he_ overheard Whittaker on the phone talking to someone about a very hush-hush project that they don't want leaked to the public because they are afraid of causing an uproar. He also heard something about a secret shipment coming into Metropolis and then leaving again two nights from tonight and going on to Gotham, New York, LA, and several other major cities."

Clark paused in his perusal of the office to stare at her disbelievingly. "Lois, I thought we worked for the _Daily Planet_. You know the newspaper that stands for integrity and truth, not a tabloid rag. What kind of convoluted…?"

Lois looked up at him from the computer screen with wide eyes. "You think I didn't check it out before I dragged you here? Clark, I managed to get a hold of Tony's friend and got the story directly from him and then pulled Congressman Whittaker's phone records. The time of the call I got from Roger, Tony's friend, matched a call from this office. And this office just happens to belong to Joe Martin, who was rumored to be heavily involved with Morgan Edge a couple of years ago. He's a self-made millionaire, supposedly owning a large chain of car washes, but the rumors have always been that those are just a front for money laundering. No matter how many times the authorities have gone after Martin, their cases always go up in smoke."

"And we're going to change that how exactly? We don't even know what we're really looking for, Lois," Clark pointed out. "This, this…_Roger_ only heard one side of a conversation. This office is currently holding a computer and no less than 8 filing cabinets, all of which are crammed full of what is probably very carefully staged paperwork and are probably locked."

"I admit that it's a little sketchy, Smallville," Lois admitted. But she hurried to add, "But my gut is telling me that there's something here, and I'm going to take the time to look into it. It might not pan out, but I would kick myself if I got scooped on this when it was practically handed to me on a silver platter. Now, you can stand there and wait if you want but could you at least be quiet so I can concentrate on getting done and we can get out of here?"

Clark sighed and snapped his mouth shut. He would help her, of course, but he honestly didn't know where to begin. Taking a moment to look around again, this time more critically, he thought about what they could be looking for and where it might be.

The office took up much of the top floor of the high-rise, the main room here being approximately 1000 square feet. The main set of large double doors was opposite a wall of windows that were obviously tinted. The large antique desk where Lois sat was in front of the windows. To her right was a door that, Clark discovered with a quick glance with his x-ray vision, held a very nice private bathroom, complete with shower. Between that door and the main door was a wall with six of those eight filing cabinets, the other two being on the opposite wall. _That_ wall also held a small bar/kitchenette type area and another set of double doors.

Striding over to the other set of doors, Clark yanked them open to reveal a closet full of clothes, personal items and other things that really just looked like junk. Deciding to leave the closet alone for the moment, he turned back to the filing cabinets. Pulling open the top drawer of the nearest one, he glanced back at Lois who was busy pecking at the keyboard and staring at the computer screen. Using his speed-reading ability, he rifled through the files quickly and then the next drawer before deciding that he must have been right about them in the first place. There didn't look like there would be anything of value here.

Just as he was about to say as much to Lois, Clark's hearing picked up on something outside the office and he froze. A cart with a squeaky wheel, voices chattering in a language other than English, and footsteps…all drawing closer. Quietly shutting the drawer, he moved quickly over to the doors to the outer offices and put his ear to the door. Technically, he didn't need to do that but he put on the charade for Lois' benefit.

"Lois!" he hissed urgently. When she glanced up and raised an eyebrow at him, he nodded towards the door. "Someone's coming! I think it's the cleaning people."

Her eyes widening, Lois quickly clicked the mouse button, shutting the programs and documents she had opened, and then shut the computer down. Standing up, she turned off the lamp on the desk and moved to stand behind Clark at the door. Straining to hear through the door, since she couldn't get close enough to it to press her ear to the wood with Clark in the way, Lois held her breath.

"Are they coming this way?" she whispered. When he met her eyes in the glow from the lights of the city outside the windows and nodded, Lois' heart started pounding. "We've got to get out of here!"

Hearing the jingling of keys and using a little x-ray vision, Clark leapt into action, grabbing Lois' hand and dragging her to the other side of the office. "No time!" he told her.

Yanking open the closet doors again, he quickly but gently jostled Lois inside, followed after her and pulled the doors shut behind him. He felt Lois shoving the clothes aside as best she could, trying to create more room in the small space. Clark pressed his ear to the door and then held his breath as someone unlocked the outer doors and brought their equipment into the office. _Dear God, please don't let them open these doors. There's no place to hide if they do_, he thought silently.

Lois had been squirming until she saw the light come on under the door. Freezing in place, she swallowed and took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness with the little bit of light creeping in, her eyes met Clark's and she gave him a weak smile. _Heavens above, please don't let us get caught. Smallville will never let me hear the end of it,_ she thought.

For what seemed like an eternity, they listened to the chatter on the other side of the door between the two women. There was what sounded like the banging of the garbage can as it was being emptied, the vacuum cleaner, and water sloshing. There were a couple of times when the couple in the closet held their breaths and gripped each other's hand, sure they were about to be discovered.

At long last, it sounded like the two people in the office were wrapping things up and just as Lois and Clark each let out a breath that they had been holding, they sucked in and held another one as they heard one of the women move purposely towards the closet. Squeezing their eyes shut, they said silent prayers when they heard a jingling of keys and the doorknob turned. Then, just as suddenly, the woman rattled off something to the other one in whatever language they were speaking, moved away from the closet, the light beneath the door was extinguished, and they were gone, their voices growing fainter with the growing distance.

Lois let her breath out audibly, slumping against Clark's large frame in relief. "Thank god! I thought for sure we were…" she cut her sentence off as she felt Clark tense. "I mean, I knew we would be fine. See, Smallville? Nothing to worry about," she corrected in a hushed tone, straightening beside him.

Her words were betrayed by her calming heart rate which had been sky-high for the last 20 minutes or so while they had been hiding from the cleaning crew. Deciding that both of them knowing her line had been nothing but false bravado, Clark let it go and felt around for the handle on the door. Just as his hand closed over it, Lois pushed him out of the way.

"I think we can go now, Smallville. I don't think they're coming back. So…" she told him, trying the doorknob. She jiggled it slightly but it wouldn't budge. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Lois repeated over and over, yanking at the doorknob again and again to no avail. The lock held. "This is NOT happening!"

Clark smiled at that. Leave it to Lois Lane to think that denial would magically get them out of this situation.

"Well, looks like we're stuck here for the time being," he sighed.

He could always break the door down, of course, but he really would rather get them out of this situation without any undue attention drawn to his special abilities if at all possible. Deep down in his heart, he knew that he would probably tell Lois all about himself one day, but he wanted it to be the right time and in the right way. Getting them out of a locked closet didn't feel like it fit either of those criteria.

Lois anxiously rattled the doorknob, desperate to get out of the tiny space that was rapidly closing in on her, or so it felt. She couldn't see anything in the complete darkness, and everywhere she moved, she bumped into or brushed against something, mostly Clark. She could sense that feeling of panic creeping up on her and she closed her eyes and concentrated on keeping it at bay.

Most people who knew Lois would say that she was completely fearless, would let nothing stand between her and what she wanted. Those who knew her best knew that things scared Lois, things like being kidnapped by psychopaths or known murderers or something happening to her good friends, but nothing that would totally incapacitate her. To the entire world, there wasn't anything that Lois Lane couldn't handle.

There had only ever been one person other than Lois who knew better…who knew that she had a true phobia. The usual phobias made Lois roll her eyes in disbelief at those who had them.

Spiders? Please! She had no problem dealing with any spider large or small and had even had a pet tarantula when she was 10. The same was true of snakes.

Heights? There was not a building, ride, ladder or roof that Lois couldn't scale to the very top. She had done her share of rock and mountain climbing with no qualms whatsoever.

Flying? Dogs? Storms? Needles? Public speaking? No, no, nope, nuh-uh, absolutely not. None of those things froze her in place or made her lose her cool. Sure sometimes it was a little uncomfortable getting that flu shot when the nurse hit a nerve. And yeah, she sweated a little in front of a large crowd but after a minute or two, she would calm down and finish whatever speech or karaoke song she was doing with no worries.

However, there was this one thing…this one…phobia, oh how she hated that word, that she had been fighting since she was 9 years old…

_*Flashback*_

_Lois stifled a giggle as she heard her sister counting from the other room. Her eyes darted around the room as she tried to find an adequate place to hide. She huffed in impatience. Their house on the base was too small and there just weren't enough places to hide where Lucy wouldn't think to look for her._

_Her father was off on assignment for the next few days and her Aunt Cathy had gone across the street to help Mrs. Webb who was going to have a baby. She had three other kids, all younger than Lucy, and Captain Webb was also away from his family. Unable to find anyone else to help out, Aunt Cathy had quickly looked to her oldest niece to hold down the home front while she was across the street._

"_You are to stay inside the house at all times. If you need me, the number to the Webbs' house is by the phone in the kitchen. I will be back as soon as Mrs. Webb's mother gets there, which should only be a couple of hours…well before supper," Cathy told her. "Keep an eye on Lucy. I'm counting on you."_

"_You can count on me, Aunt Cathy," Lois had told her, standing at attention and saluting the older woman. Cathy had given her a somewhat sad smile, a quick kiss on the top of her head, and had locked the front door behind her._

_Now, Lois could hear Lucy getting closer to the end of her counting and she hurriedly wracked her brain to think of a place inside the house to hide. Her eyes finally landed on the small door in the wall that was mostly hidden by her and Lucy's small table set. She moved over to the door, pulled it open just enough to slide inside. Sticking her hand out, she shifted the small furniture so that it would disguise that she had ever been in there._

_Switching on her small flashlight, she took a deep breath and looked around. The space was bigger than Lois had originally thought and she saw that it currently housed several boxes, some old toys they no longer played with and a couple of travel trunks. One of the trunks was just in front of her and covered in stickers and stamps from all over the world. Moving to it, she set the flashlight down to face it and grunted as she lifted the lid. It was heavy, taking both hands to make it budge._

_The trunk wasn't full, and all she saw at a quick glance was a bunch of old clothes. Some of them were hers and Lucy's baby clothes but most of them were her mother's. Momentarily forgetting her game of hide-and-seek, Lois felt her eyes start to sting with tears and her hands shook as she reached inside to gently caress a dress that she remembered as being one of her mother's favorite. She sniffed a couple of times and wiped her nose with the back of her hand._

_The small voice of her sister snapped Lois out of her daze and her head whipped around to look at the door. Lucy was close! Would she think to look in the small storage space? Lois quickly turned off the flashlight and clutched it to her chest as if it could stop her heart from racing._

"_Lo-is, come out, come out wherever you are!" Lucy sang._

_In a moment of excited panic, Lois decided that Lucy would find her. Pulling out an armload of clothes, she dropped them on the floor to the side and jumped in the trunk. Reaching up, Lois yanked on the lid to pull it down but it was heavier than she thought and it dropped with a muffled thud. There was a small click and it was so dark that Lois couldn't see her hand in front of her face._

_No longer concerned about losing the game to her sister, instinct drove Lois to shove frantically above her on the lid to the trunk, but it didn't budge at all. The lock had engaged when it had shut and the only way to open it was by pushing the button on the outside. She was trapped!_

_Lois wasn't a child who was afraid of the dark but the trunk was small and she couldn't see a thing! Frantically, she called for her sister over and over, but it was no use. Lucy wouldn't hear her. Between the clothes, the closed trunk, the walls of the storage space, all of it would keep her cries muffled enough so Lucy would never hear her. Even if by some miracle she did, there was no guarantee that Lucy would know how or have the strength to open the trunk herself._

_Fighting tears, Lois tried to take a deep breath, only to start coughing at the dust she had stirred up. It was several moments before Lois remembered her flashlight and she frantically turned it on, letting out a deep sigh of relief as it illuminated the inside of the trunk. She would be ok. Sure it was hot and stuffy, but her aunt and Lucy would find her eventually and there was nothing in the dark trunk to be afraid of really._

_Telling herself that over and over worked for a while. Lois had been curled up for what felt like forever, unable to stretch her arms or her legs, calling out every once in a while and knocking on the trunk with the flashlight. It was sometime later that Lois finally noticed something was different. Was it her imagination or was it getting darker? It wasn't her imagination! The flashlight batteries were dying. Soon, it would go out altogether, leaving her in the suffocating blackness._

_Panic took over again as it grew dimmer and dimmer and Lois thrashed around, bruising herself and crying. It was no use! No one was coming. To add to her panic, it felt like it was getting harder to breathe. In a moment or two, the light would go out completely._

"_Help! Somebody, help me!" she called, sobbing. As the flashlight finally went out, Lois whispered, "Please. Anybody…" and she cried herself to sleep._

_*End Flashback*_

Aunt Cathy had eventually found Lois, had taken her to the hospital to be sure she was ok, and then scolded her before giving both her and Lucy ice cream and sending them to bed early. She hadn't even told the General, even though Lois had been in constant dread of the lecture she was going to get when he had learned of what had happened. When it never came and Lois had asked her aunt about it, Cathy pretended not to know what she was talking about and winked at her, allowing Lois to let out a deep breath of relief.

Ever since then, ever since that day when she had been locked in a trunk in a dark closet, Lois had hated small, tight, dark spaces. Claustrophobia. That was the clinical term for what affected her. She had tried to tell herself that she was being ridiculous. There was no reason for her fears. Lois Lane faced life and death situations on an alarmingly regular basis and often laughed about it later, shaking her head at herself. It was irrational for her to be so paralyzed by the idea of dark, small spaces.

But telling herself this didn't seem to have any effect at all. She had tried over and over to talk herself out of her fear, without results. So, in a desperate attempt to get rid of it, Lois had finally turned to therapy. No one other than her shrink and Lois knew about her phobia, and Lois would have been mortified if anyone found out. And as long as there was moving air or a light of any kind, Lois had learned to be able to deal with it. Indeed, for a while she had carried a small flashlight and a handheld electric fan in her purse. She hadn't had a need for either in years, however.

In her panic now, Lois patted herself down and started to crouch down to hunt for her purse. "Where is it? Where did it end up?" she muttered, her hands reaching blindly for her bag.

"Lois, what are you looking for?" Clark asked her. He repeated himself in an effort to get her attention, but to no avail. When he felt her start to crouch down and heard her hit her head on the door with a curse, he reached down and pulled her back up in front of him. "Lois?"

"My purse! I'm looking for my purse! I have a flashlight and a small fan and…"

"You left it in the car. Remember? You said we wouldn't be very long and you wouldn't need it so we locked it in the trunk," he reminded her. Her voice sounded strange to him. If Clark hadn't known it was Lois in the closet with him, he wouldn't have been sure it was her voice.

Lois felt her breathing start to shallow out as she reached up and rubbed her forehead where she had bumped it. What could have possessed her to leave it in the car?! Her cell phone, the flashlight, the fan…all of it was in that purse! She closed her eyes and forced deep breaths, but it felt like there was no air in their confinement. Forcing her eyes open in an attempt to calm down didn't help either. Open or closed, her eyes showed her the same thing…nothing but darkness, absolute darkness.

Her heart was pounding. Her hands were clammy and she was starting to sweat. Lois was just starting to feel the panic begin to choke her when she felt something gently squeeze her shoulders.

"Lois! Talk to me. What's wrong? Are you ok?"

Clark's voice penetrated her anxiety. Pulling a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth, although still feeling stifled, Lois reached up and took Clark's hands in her own, squeezing them tightly. They were currently her lifeline in this never-ending sea of blackness.

_Ok, Lane, you can do this. There's no reason to panic. It's just a closet and you aren't alone. Clark is here with you…taking up an awful lot of space! No! Don't think like that. Just concentrate on him and you'll be fine. You have been dealing with this issue for years. Now it's time for that therapy to pay off!_

"Of course I'm ok, Smallville! What makes you think anything's wrong?" she said with a light laugh that had just the tiniest hint of hysteria to it. "Is it me or is it just ridiculously warm in here?"

She might have been somewhat convincing if Clark hadn't been…well, Clark. As it was, his super hearing picked up her accelerated heart rate and the fact that she was almost panting. He frowned as he felt how clammy her hands felt in his. Obviously, something about their situation was getting to Lois. What was it? Was she afraid they were going to get caught? He knew she wasn't afraid of the dark; she slept with a mask on to block out all light most nights.

A thought struck him and he chuckled silently to himself. Was she nervous about being stuck in here with _him_? That might be it. They had agreed to try to take their time with their new relationship, but he knew that both of them felt the strong connection they had. The idea had his conscience and his ego in competition.

On the one hand, he kind of liked the idea that being in a situation like this would make Lois nervous. Considering how long they had known each other, Clark had to admit he found the notion very flattering. Truth be told, she could have his palms sweating too given the right situation or just that one look she gave him sometimes…

But on the other hand, Clark didn't want Lois to be afraid that he would take advantage of her, in _any_ circumstances they might find themselves in. One of the things he liked about dating her was that they _were_ friends and knew each other as well as they did. It was nice to know they weren't taking something away from their relationship as they tried to change it, but rather they were adding to it. His conscience scolded him, though not very loudly, that he was a bit flattered by her nervousness at being locked in this closet with him.

"Lois, I think I know what this is about."

"You do?" Lois sounded both surprised and a little wary about where he might be taking this.

"Yeah, and you don't have to worry," Clark told her in a soothing and reassuring tone. "I promise that, although I admit to kind of enjoying the fact that I was able to get you alone in the dark so soon in our new relationship, I'm not the type to try to take advantage of the situation. We said we'd try to take things slow and you know I have too much respect for you to…"

The rest of what he might have said was lost when she elbowed him in the ribs. Clark was glad he had felt it coming so she didn't hurt herself. Lois was momentarily caught off guard by how hard Clark's side had been. If he hadn't moved, she might have thought she had hit the wall.

Lois said incredulously, "You think I'm nervous about being locked in this closet with _you_?!" She snorted and rolled her eyes, having forgotten for a second what she _was_ afraid of. "Not to seriously deflate your ego, Smallville, but I have absolutely no qualms about you taking advantage of me. If anything, I'd be worried about _me_ taking advantage of _you_."

Clark was so thrown by that statement that when he opened his mouth to reply only a squeak came out. Before a full smile could form on his face and a blush make its way all the way to his hairline, Lois added, "Let's forget the fact that I can take care of myself if you ever _did_ try anything for a moment, and remember that I know the people who raised you. They raised you to be a gentleman, and I've never known you to be otherwise. Not to mention that your mother's number is on my speed dial, and there's never been a man who was more afraid of his mom."

It was Clark's turn to roll his eyes. Leave it to Lois Lane to deliver a compliment and an insult all in the same breath. At least she was sounding more like herself. "Well, then what was wrong with you a minute ago?" he asked matter-of-factly. "And don't tell me 'nothing'. I think I know you well enough to be able to tell when something is bothering you."

"Forget it, Smallville, whatever it was passed. Now pull out your cell phone and call somebody to come and get us out of here…unless you have a better idea," Lois said, trying to hold on to their current conversation instead of falling back into her fears.

Sighing, Clark decided to let it go for the moment and reached into his right pants pocket to pull out his cell phone. "Just who am I supposed to call? The police? They could get us out."

"You know, Clark, sarcasm is not really all that attractive on you," Lois told him.

"But I bet it looks great on you, right?" he had to tease.

"Of course!" Her smile was evident in her voice. "I think we should call Oliver. Even if he can't get us out himself, he would know how to get in touch with someone who could."

"You seem to have a lot of faith in him, Lois," Clark observed, a hint of jealousy creeping into his tone.

Lois bit her bottom lip and took the phone from his hand. Hitting the button to turn on the screen light, her head jerked slightly and she squinted and blinked at that sudden bright light. Sighing, she placed her left hand on his chest and leaned up to place a quick peck on his lips. "You have nothing to worry about when it comes to Oliver and me, Smallville. He knows my feelings have changed and I've moved on."

Her hand started to slide down and off his chest, but Clark captured it with one of his own and held it over his heart. "Oh? Anybody I know?" he asked softly, only half teasing.

Giving him a coy smile, Lois squeezed his hand and then gently pulled hers away. "Maybe." Glancing down at the phone in her hand, she frowned. "Damn. No signal? How is that possible? You can get cell service anywhere in Metropolis. Now if we were in Smallville, I know there are holes all over the place in that tiny town that Starbucks forgot."

Frowning, Clark took the phone from her and held it up as high as he could reach and began to move it around the tiny closet, trying to find service. "Hmm. That is odd," he murmured. He pressed it against the door to the closet but still didn't get any "bars".

Truth was, Clark had been wracking his brain to figure a way to get them out of this without exposing his abilities. When Lois had suggested calling Oliver, he had inwardly thought it was the perfect idea, but the fact that they had no cell signal caught his attention. Lois wasn't exaggerating about being able to get reception anywhere in Metropolis, with the exception of places that had blockers in place. So why would someone with Joe Martin's status have cell reception blocked in his office?

On a whim, Clark tried to x-ray the wall of the closet that had the door. He frowned in confusion when he couldn't penetrate through. A closet wall lined with lead? He was about to try one of the other walls when Lois spoke again.

"I know! Clark, shine that light on the door handle. They haven't made a lock yet that Lois Lane can't pick and I can't imagine that a lock on a closet door would be that difficult," she stated, feeling around on her head for the couple of hair pins she knew were in there. She always put a couple in her hair for just this sort of emergency.

Clark willingly complied, but they both sighed as the light from his phone hit the door handle. There was no key hole on this side. _Now what?_ They both thought silently.

Knowing that he could easily get them out of this situation with a little extra…well, 'umph' for lack of a better term, wasn't helping Clark. He knew that if their relationship continued along the way it was that he would eventually tell Lois the truth about himself. But this wasn't the time or place. He wasn't ready to open that can of worms. Sighing in frustration, Clark reached up and ran a hand through his hair.

Lois, meanwhile, was busy trying not to panic. Because at this point, she honestly could not think up one more idea to get them out of this and it felt like the walls were starting to close in on her again. It didn't help that the lack of signal that the cell phone was still searching for was rapidly draining the battery, which meant that soon enough they would be plunged back into the blackness.

She was on her third deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth when Clark finally noticed that Lois wasn't saying anything but had started muttering to herself. Tuning his super hearing to be able to hear her, he picked up various phrases that made no sense to him.

"Wide, open spaces. The beach by the ocean. Hear the waves. Smell the salty air. Feel the breeze," she muttered, her eyes closed. She was waving her hands towards her face and tossing her head back, taking deep breaths.

Just as he was about to ask what she was doing, Lois' eyes popped back open and she shook her head. "Nope. Not working. Ok, switch scenes."

When she opened her mouth to start muttering again, Clark interrupted her. "Lois, what are you doing?" he asked, his tone curious and amused.

"It's called 'projecting', Smallville," she answered grudgingly.

"Projecting?" his tone had turned teasing.

Lois was about to make a snarky comeback, but Clark's cell phone chose that moment to beep with a warning that the battery was dying. "Quick, Smallville! Try to send a text message. Maybe that'll go through even if we can't get enough of a signal to make a call."

"Ok, I'll try it, but I'm not sure the battery will last long enough. It was low before we got stuck in here," he said, tapping away at the screen.

He hurriedly composed a message to Oliver, keeping it short and to the point. Finally, he hit the send button and could feel Lois dancing from one foot to the other in nervous anticipation. After a minute of holding their breaths, the phone beeped and a message stated that the text had not gone through. Biting back a groan, Clark rapidly tried to resend the message. The phone beeped and a warning light of a low battery flashed on the screen. Clark could see that the message was still trying to go through and when the phone beeped again for the battery, he muttered to it, begging for the message to finish sending.

When the screen finally went black, leaving them once again in the dark, Clark heard Lois give a small whimper and heard her start taking deep breaths again. "Did it go through? Did we make it before the battery finally died?" she asked, her voice sounding strained.

"I'm not sure," Clark sighed, tucking the phone away in his pocket. He didn't bother to add that he didn't think the message had gone through.

Lois could feel the panic clawing at her throat. She cleared her throat and slammed her eyes shut, taking deep breaths again. "Meadows of tulips in the Netherlands. Corn fields in Smallville stretching as far as the eye can see."

Clark finally caught on to what Lois was doing and a possible reason for her doing so crossed his mind. If anyone had ever tried to tell him that Lois Lane was claustrophobic, he would have laughed in their face, but seeing it first-hand…well, the thought wasn't so easily dismissed. "Lois, are you ok?" he asked, gently laying a hand on one of her shoulders.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back for Lois. She started pounding on the door, feeling the darkness closing in one her, suffocating her, determined to drown her. "Help! Please, somebody, please help us!" she called.

Alarmed at her sudden loss of control, Clark could hear Lois' pounding heart and almost smell the fear coming off of her in waves and it broke his heart. He knew that Lois hated to show vulnerability to anyone, but something like this, a personal phobia, would feel humiliating to her. In Clark's eyes, however, it made her human and all the more endearing. He just wished that she had had a choice in when to share this with him. The irony of that with his own secret from her wasn't lost on him.

"Lois," he called softly, trying to get her attention.

He had to call her name three times before she responded and by that point, Lois was in a blind panic. "Clark, I can't breathe! It's too hot in here. I've got to get out of here!" she said, her chest heaving as she almost hyperventilated.

"Lois, it's going to be ok. We're just locked in a closet. We'll find a way out of here and we'll be fine," Clark tried to soothe her.

Too far gone to be completely aware of what she was doing or saying, Lois whirled around and started pounding on his chest. "You did this! You were the one who dragged me in here!" she accused.

Clark just let her go, his hands reaching up to gently caress her upper arms, still trying to soothe her. Just as abruptly as her anger had flared, it dissipated, replaced with tears and pleading. "You don't understand!" she wailed, tears streaming down her face unheeded, breaking her partner's heart even more. "I can't handle being in small, dark places. The doctors call it claustrophobia. It's been my weakness since I was a little girl…"

Through her sobs, Lois poured out the whole story of the day hide-and-seek had gone terribly wrong for her and how that was the beginning of her hatred and fear of being confined like this. Clark had a hard time understanding her words sometimes through her tears but he got the gist of the story and he just pulled her to him, cradling her and rocking her in his arms.

When her stormy sobs had somewhat subsided to hiccups, he placed a gentle kiss on the top of Lois' head and pulled back. Knowing his vision was more enhanced than hers in the dark, he cupped her cheek and put his lips to her ear. "Shh, Lois, it's ok. I'm here now and I'm not going to let anything happen to you. You just keep trying to picture those big, open, sunny places and I'll find a way to get us out of here."

Shaking her head, Lois clung tighter to him. Her eyes were open now but she really couldn't tell the difference between open and closed in this darkness. "It wouldn't be so bad if everywhere I turned I didn't hit the wall or clothes…or even you! If it was cooler in here, I'd be able to deal, but I can't make the projection therapy work if everywhere I turn, I'm reminded that I'm locked in a dark closet with no way out! Even a little bit of light, or even just a lightening of the darkness would help, but I can't see anything and it's so warm and…" she trailed off, fighting down another panic attack.

Clark pulled back again and decided a matter-of-fact tone might help in this situation. "Ok, so tell me what this projection therapy is supposed to do. Where did you learn about it and how is it supposed to help?" he asked.

Lois could feel her cheeks reddening in the dark and mumbled her explanation of where she had learned of it. "My therapist recommended it." When Clark didn't comment on this, she cleared her throat and explained, "It's supposed to help distract me from my situation long enough for me to get a grip on my claustrophobia and get out. The problem is, in the back of my brain, I know that we aren't going to get out of this easily. No one is going to come looking for us and the reality is that we probably are going to be trapped here…"

Interrupting her, Clark took charge. "Ok, so the whole point is to distract you until you can deal with the situation. Do I have it right?"

Lois nodded and the realized that he wouldn't be able to see her. "Right."

Clark wracked his brain, trying to figure out a way to keep Lois distracted from where they were. It wasn't helping that she kept fidgeting and bumping into things. When he felt and heard her breathing start to shallow out again, an idea popped into his head. There was only one thing that came to mind to distract a woman who was locked in a dark closet with you. Try as he might, nothing else came to mind and when she started banging on the door again, he let go of all the reasons why it would be a bad idea and focused on keeping Lois distracted.

Whipping her around to face him again, he heard a mild cry of surprise just before Clark pressed his lips to hers. He felt her stiffen in his arms and slowly, he reached one hand up to cup her head while the other arm snaked around her waist. Tilting his head, he adjusted his lips so they fused better over hers and he felt her start to relax.

_That's it, Lois, just relax. You're ok. I've got you, _he thought. He tried to convey his message in his kiss and he felt her unwind even more against him. His eyes slid closed as he lost himself in the kiss. When she moaned softly against his lips, Clark forgot why he had initiated the kiss to begin with and just let go.

When Clark had first placed his lips on hers, Lois had been ready to give him an earful. What was he thinking of wanting to make out at a time like this? But then she realized that he was trying to help distract her. After a brief mental battle, Lois decided to let go and see if it would work. When he pulled her closer, she felt her eyes close and suddenly, she heard a low moan that sounded suspiciously like it had come from her.

Apparently, it was all the invitation to continue that Smallville needed because suddenly, Lois felt his velvet tongue caress her bottom lip, asking for entrance and she parted her lips, granting it. She got a little bit of satisfaction back at the sigh Clark let out. That was the last thought in her head because he pulled her flush against him and all of her senses were filled with Clark Kent.

Barely pausing to shift positions, their kisses went from warm and gentle to deep and frantic, and back again. Finally, the need for air became more powerful than the need to taste every inch of Clark's delicious mouth, and Lois yanked her head back, gasping. Keeping her eyes tightly closed, she leaned her forehead against Clark's and felt his heart hammering under her hand on his chest.

"So as far as a distraction...how am I doing in that department?" Clark teased, his thumb stroking her cheek and his fingers laced through her hair.

"Distraction?" Lois asked, her voice kind of breathy. Clark chuckled and she opened her eyes to darkness and their situation came back to her. Her mind clinging to the kisses they shared, she teased back shakily, "I guess you'll do." Then she reached up and caressed his face in the dark. She tried to reach her arms around his neck and ended up hitting the wall behind him. "Ow!" She swore and then immediately felt bad. "I'm sorry, Smallville. I know you were trying to help but I still feel…"

"Would it help if you felt like you were able to stretch out a little?" he asked.

"Yes, but..."

"Ok, so I have an idea. Let's start with the clothes we keep brushing up against," Clark said.

He held her to him with one arm and pulled clothes off of the hangers, tossing them to the floor. After they were all down, he smoothed them out the length of the closet, shoved the boxes and other harder paraphernalia to one end of the closet, stacked up in a corner as tightly jammed together as he could get it. Finding a couple of pillows that had seen better days, he propped them up at the other end of the closet floor.

Unable to see much, Lois was trying to figure out what Clark was doing. All she could do was listen as he moved things around and let him move her whenever it seemed she was getting in the way. After a few minutes, he seemed to have accomplished whatever it was he was trying to do and he clasped her hands and pulled her to the floor. Clark arranged the two of them so that they were stretched out the length of the closet, Lois sitting in between his legs and cradled against his chest. He had to sit with his knees bent a little as the closet wasn't quite long enough for his 6 foot plus frame.

Lois was touched by his attempts to make her more comfortable. Leaning up, she wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down to her. She gently pressed her lips to his, but just as he tried to deepen it, she pulled back, her head dropping onto his chest. "Thank you, Clark…for more than just trying to make me comfortable. Thank you for not making fun of me." The last sentence was said so low that a normal human might have missed it.

Tilting her head up so that he would be looking into her hazel eyes, if there were light to see by, he leaned in and dropped a peck on her lips. "Lois, having fears doesn't make you weak. It makes you human. You are the strongest, bravest person I know. If anyone you love is in danger, you don't hesitate to jump right in the middle of the danger. A lot of people are claustrophobic; I don't know many people who _like_ being locked in a small, dark closet. But I admit that as long as I'm stuck in here, there's nobody I'd rather be here with than you."

Lois felt a grin spread across her face and she pressed herself closer to Clark, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Yeah, well, since we _are_ stuck in here…together…I guess there's really no one else I'd rather be trapped in a closet with than you either, Smallville." Just as he leaned in for another kiss, she placed her fingertips over his to add, "And just so we understand each other, if you tell _anybody_ about my little problem...I _will_ hurt you. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," Clark said before capturing her lips again.

There were several long minutes spent making out, both knowing this was not really taking things slowly like they had agreed; both knowing that under normal circumstances, there was no way they would be doing this at this stage of their relationship; and both lost in the sensation of each other.

Finally, Lois reached to undo the buttons of Clark's shirt and he reared back, his hands flying to cover hers. Resting his forehead against hers, he dropped a couple of pecks on her lips and face. "Lois…I don't want this to get out of hand." When she stiffened, he placed kisses on the knuckles of each of her hands and placed them over his heart. "Don't get me wrong, there's a part of me that is dying to let things take their natural course, but, Lois, we said we wanted to do things right in this relationship." He felt her relax and her shoulders drop and he pushed the rest of the thought home.

"And the first time we make love shouldn't be when we're trapped in a closet because we were investigating a story," Clark whispered against her lips.

Pressing one last kiss against his lips, Lois sighed. "I know you're right, and I don't want to do anything either of us might regret tomorrow." She grimaced into the blackness. "Maybe regret is too strong a word. I just mean…I agree with you. Our first time together shouldn't be in a closet, just to distract me from my claustrophobia."

"In case that was an attempt at fishing for compliments, on my list of reasons for wanting to make love to you, trying to distract you from your phobia doesn't even break the top 25," he whispered huskily into her ear.

Lois shivered slightly at the tone in his voice. Every once in a while, the boy scout Smallville was replaced by someone a little more bold and confident. While Lois appreciated the gentleman, it was exciting to see this rarer side to Clark Kent once in a while. When her imagination started to run wild at the thoughts created by what he had just said to her, Lois firmly reined that imagination in. This was not the time or place.

Trying to stretch a little, Clark accidentally bumped his hand against the side wall, but it sounded funny to him. Turning his attention to it, he knocked and found that he hadn't imagined it. He knocked on the wall behind his head but it didn't sound the same. Lois, still in somewhat of a daze after their make out session, apparently hadn't noticed what was going on.

"Lois, there's something different about this back wall of the closet. Listen to the difference when I knock on this wall compared to the one behind us," he told her.

Listening carefully, Lois noticed the difference and shrugged in the dark. "Yeah, there's a slight echoing sound when you knock on the back wall that isn't there with the other one. So what? The one behind us is an outside wall. There's probably just another room on the other side of the back wall."

Clark decided to test his theory before phrasing it aloud. "Lois, knock on the far wall and see if you get the same sound down at the other end of the closet. If you're right, you should still hear that same echoing sound because it's an interior wall."

Lois scurried to the other end of the closet and did as Clark asked, but the echo was missing. "I don't get it. What would make it sound like…"

"I think there might be a way for us to get out of here after all!" Clark said, getting a little excited at the idea that popped into his head. "Lois, let's start feeling around this back wall for anything that feels different, a seam in the wall, a hidden latch, anything out of the ordinary."

He heard her sigh but she didn't say anything as she moved on her knees along the bottom edge of the wall. Clark decided to try his x-ray vision again, this time concentrating solely on the back wall of the closet. His vision hit the lead again but this time, he tried not to look quite that deep. As he slowly ran his eyes over the wall, along with his hands, he hit pay dirt.

There was a seam in the lead about the size of the outline of a doorway. Clark ran his hands over the area, looking for a switch, latch, or any other kind of mechanism to get the door to open. Not finding anything, he decided to try the easier way. He pushed lightly on one side of the "door" and when nothing happened, moved to the other side. There was a clicking sound, the door sort of bounced back at him and then suddenly the hidden door swung open.

A breeze of cooler air hit them both in the face and Lois blinked at the sudden appearance of fluorescent light. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw that the door had opened into a concrete stairwell. She squealed in delight and threw herself into Clark's arms, hugging him and jumping up and down like a little girl.

Clark chuckled and hugged her to him. "Oh, Clark, thank you! Thank you for noticing the differences in the sounds of the walls, and for not dismissing it as easily as I did, and for finding that hidden door and…"

"Lois!" he said loud enough to get her attention. "We should probably fix this closet and get out of here."

Agreeing with him, Lois quickly helped him hang the clothes back up in the closet and distribute the other junk more evenly around the floor. Finally satisfied and unable to stay any more, she told him that would have to do. Clark closed the door back and they scrambled down the stairs, laughing and giggling like high school kids who had just toilet papered a neighbor's house.

When they made it outside to the street and were standing beside the car, they jumped in and Clark started the engine, plugging his phone into the charger. It lit up and his eyes darted to Lois, who was watching him and biting her lower lip. He smiled at her and she smiled somewhat shyly back. His expression grew curious.

"Smallville," she began hesitantly. But the sound of Clark's phone ringing interrupted her.

"Hello?"

"Clark? I got this strange text message about you and Lois being locked in a closet. Is this a joke, a reference to the old school game 15 minutes of heaven, or is this legit?" Oliver's voice came over the line. It sounded like he was in a car.

"It's a bit of a long story but the short version is that Lois and I were actually stuck in a closet, but we got out and we're fine now. Thanks for calling to check, though. We might have needed you to come bust us out," Clark quickly explained.

After some teasing about their predicament, Clark finally hung up with Oliver's laughter ringing in his ears. The truth was, Oliver's teasing wasn't too far off from the truth, but Clark wasn't about to tell him that, especially with Lois sitting right next to him and obviously listening to the conversation as best she could.

The two reporters were silent as Clark steered them towards Smallville and home. Finally, Lois couldn't take it anymore. While the silence hadn't been awkward for Clark, it obviously had been for her. She cleared her throat a couple of times to begin, but Clark remained silent, deciding to let her say whatever was on her mind.

"Clark, I'm sorry about tonight," she finally blurted out.

Frowning in confusion, Clark's eyes darted to her. "Which part of tonight are you apologizing for, Lois?" he asked slowly.

"I'm sorry I got us into that mess, and I'm sorry for losing it on you when we were stuck in that closet," she told him, keeping her eyes trained on the view outside of the car.

Now that they were out and things had calmed down, Lois was feeling more than embarrassed and a bit foolish. After all, what real harm could have happened to them locked in a closet? As it always had, Lois' claustrophobia was making her feel silly. The fact that Clark hadn't teased her about it and was being so great about it only made the feeling worse. He had seen her walk into the heart of danger, gun drawn and without any break in her stride but all it took to make her become completely unhinged was a small, dark space with no real circulation.

"What kind of reporter am I anyway? I mean, who's really afraid of being locked in a closet? I've faced down the Luthors, drug dealers, military guys, you name it, but don't lock me in a closet! The General would be ashamed to call me his daughter," she ranted under her breath at herself.

Before she realized what was happening, Clark had pulled over onto the side of the road and had cut the engine. Looking around, all Lois could see was the road and a cow pasture on their left and a corn field on the right. The windows were partly down and all that could be heard was their breathing and the crickets chirping outside. Clark turned to face her and Lois found she was having a hard time meeting his eyes.

Reaching over, Clark took her hand in both of his and gently drew her to him. When she was close enough, he tilted her chin up with a finger and looked into those beautiful hazel eyes. He smiled reassuringly and she gave half a smile back.

"Lois, have you ever looked up the definition of the word phobia?" he asked her softly.

Not sure where he was going with this but deciding to humor him, Lois answered, "It's a fear of an object, activity or situation…"

"You forgot an important word in there. Irrational. A phobia is an _irrational_ fear. That means there's really not a reason for it. It doesn't make sense; it's illogical; and yet, that's how you feel anyway," Clark told her. He caressed the side of her face. "Most people have one or even more than one. Clowns, snakes, dogs…even me. You know mine. The real word for it is acrophobia."

Lois rolled her eyes. "That's different, Smallville. There is a real reason to be afraid of heights. If you fall, you could break your neck. There's no real reason to be afraid of tight, dark spaces."

_If you only knew,_ Clark thought to himself. The only reason he wasn't totally humiliated by his own phobia was that most people didn't know that he was pretty much invulnerable. Even his father had been known to tease him about his fear of heights from time to time. He took it in good stride but even he didn't really understand it.

"Lois, you did ok with it after that first wave of panic," he pointed out.

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "That's because you were great at getting my mind off of the situation." Her smile faded and she frowned instead. "I've been seeing shrinks off and on for years to try to cure me of my claustrophobia. Do you have any idea how much money I've thrown away on those stupid therapy sessions?" Her grin returned and she nudged him playfully. "And none of them worked half as well as being locked in that closet with you tonight."

"Maybe all you need is to be able to associate being stuck in small, dark places with something good…like a make-out session," Clark teased back.

"Are you volunteering to schedule some therapy sessions with me, Dr. Kent?" Lois asked huskily, her eyes dropping to his lips.

Clark's eyes caressed her face and he heard her heart skip a beat and then slip into overdrive. "Anytime you need me, I'll be sure to make myself available, Miss Lane."

Lois bit her lower lip and Clark bit back a groan. "That's so hot!" she whispered, just before she fused her lips to his.


End file.
